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Fear and Confusion Mark First Week of Hebron Schools

By Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representative

Fear and confusion marked the first week of school in the West Bank city of Hebron among both students and teachers. The situation is often tense, due to the presence of some 400 Israeli settlers in the middle of the city. Around 1,500 Israeli troops protect them and control checkpoints which divide the city into separate Israeli and Palestinian areas.

Trouble began a few days before school started when teachers at Qurtuba Girls School, attending a faculty meeting, were assaulted with eggs and stones by settlers across from the Beit Hadassah settlement in Hebron. Increased settler violence was feared, as Hebron’s more radical settlers have just returned from Gaza, after protesting the evacuation of Israeli settlers there.

Israeli soldiers inspect boxes of copy paper that students are carrying to school. Photo: Paul Pierce.

The day before school started, the Israeli army installed two new checkpoints with metal detector cabins, the first time this technology has been used at Hebron checkpoints.

Day One: the children passed through new metal detector cabins, one at Tel Rumeida (affecting Qurtuba School) and one near the Ibrahimia Boys School and the al-Fayhaa Girls School near the Cave of Machpela. The later checkpoint sits in the middle of a Palestinian neighborhood, not near to any Israeli settlements.

Fear and confusion was frequently seen on the faces of the youngest children. Palestinian teachers from Qurtuba School refused to enter the new metal detector cabin, because some of them were pregnant and feared that the machines might harm their fetuses. The girls at the schools also refused to pass through the detectors and were allowed to pass on the first day of school.

Israeli soliders attempt to break into a private house next to a new school checkpoint to set up camp inside. Photo: Kathy Kamphoefner

Day Two: soldiers broke into houses nearby the Ibrahimia School to set up camp. Then they showed closed military zone orders to try to force the peace team observers from the area.

Schools personnel complained that they were held up at checkpoints making them as much as an hour late for school. The headmaster of the Ibrahimia School said he had submitted a list of his teachers to the military in charge of the area, but he and his teachers were still delayed at the checkpoints.

Day Three: International observers said soldiers targeted at least one high school student for special harassment, since he was stopped and detained half an hour while his ID was checked each school day. On the first day of school, he was beaten by soldiers at the Shuhada Street Checkpoint.

When teachers and students at the al-Fayhaa Girls School heard about the experience at Qurtuba School, they also refused to pass through the devices. Male teachers said they were afraid that their internal organs would be harmed, while the pregnant female teachers voiced fears that their pregnancies would be endangered.

Day Four: Rumors spread that the metal detector cabins contain an x-ray machine, allowing the Israeli soldiers to see through women’s clothes or damage internal organs. These were not totally unfounded fears. Previous reports that the Israeli army has been using large x-ray machines on Palestinians in Gaza have been widespread.

The Israeli army held Palestinian high school students while their ID numbers were processed through IDF computers, even though they make the trip twice daily.

Day Five: Female students and teachers amassed outside the metal detector cabins and refused to enter it. After much radio communication with his commander, the soldier manning the facility allowed the women to avoid the machine and pass through the checkpoint next to the pre-fab building.

Day Six: Teachers and girls from al-Fayhaa School gathered as they had the day before, but were refused access to school unless they passed through the metal detector cabin. The soldier, when questioned by a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT), said that bullets had been found on a boy the day before, so the girls could not pass without inspection.

Then, only minutes later, the same Israeli soldier allowed all the elementary school students to proceed around the metal detector cabin. However, he refused to allow the female teachers the same opportunity and a standoff ensued.

Male teachers from the Ibrahimia School stood with the al-Fayhaa’s female teachers, refusing to proceed through the scanner. Soon several hundred girls from the school appeared from every direction in support of their teachers. The atmosphere became tense as soldiers realized they ere being surrounded by a completely nonviolent, but ever-growing crowd.

The soldiers called in reinforcements and ordered everyone back from the surveillance facility, holding their guns in the air. A soldier ordered international observers to “take no pictures” and pointed his gun at them for emphasis.

Administrators, CPTers and members of Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron (TIPH) all tried to explain to the teachers about the metal detectors. One female TIPH member even went through the metal detector to demonstrate to those present that she felt no danger from the equipment, but they weren't convinced.

The standoff went on for three hours, with many discussions between teachers, administrators, observers and the Israeli soldiers. Palestinian photojournalists arrived and were threaten with seizure of their photographs. They took photos anyway.

Teachers and students pass through a checkpoint on their way to school after a three hour standoff. Photo: Paul Pierce

Finally, the female teachers agreed to allow the male Israeli soldiers to use a handheld wand in order to check them for metal objects and look into their purses. Afterwards, the female teachers proceeded to school and the girls dispersed quietly off to classes for the remainder of the morning.

For the past ten years, in response to settler attacks and solider harassment of the schoolchildren, members of the AFSC-convened Peace Teams Forum have accompanied youngsters to school to try to provide some safety to them. Currently these groups include the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program of Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) of the World Council of Churches, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT).

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